The Crash
by SSA Haffner
Summary: When Jay offers to preoccupy the ninja with a race during their training time, something goes wrong. Will the ninja find out what has happened to their friend, and where he went? "With all that fire, he was sure there was going to be a body. And not just some random corpse, either. The corpse of his best friend." Warning: Jay slash
1. Chapter 1

"Anyone on for a race?" Jay asked suddenly from his spot at the table. Everyone stopped in their tracks. Zane stopped whisking the cake batter that he was fixing; Cole stopped his attempt to try and steal the cake Zane had just finished baking and was waiting to frost. Kai stopped arguing with Nya about his hair, and Lloyd quickly glanced up from his new phone.

"I was thinking, maybe we all could spend our training for today seeing who could make it all the way to the other side of Ninjago City and back first!" Jay said, a large, boyish smile plastered on his face.

Most smiled back as Jay looked around, but Lloyd continued to stare at his phone, completely oblivious to the world around him. Jay quietly motioned to the others, and Kai smirked. Zane had just made a fresh batch of frosting for the cake, and to Kai it looked exactly like a face-shaped bowl. Grabbing it, he walked up behind Lloyd, who finally looked up at their silence. Before Lloyd could do more than give Jay a confused look, a bowl half-full with white icing was pushed into his face.

He had opened his mouth with the intention of yelling at Kai, who he knew was behind him since the air got like, 50 degrees warmer, but only got a mouthful of icing. Once the pressure of holding the bowl to his face was lifted, he quickly stood up and wiped off his eyes. As soon as the smallest sliver of light reached his eyes, he saw red.

Literally.

Before Kai could react, the bowl was now pushed into _his_ face just as hard, making him stumble in surprise. Lloyd and the rest of the group began laughing hard, and Zane had his 'record' feature on, so they could replay the scene for Sensei later on. He was sure this would at least bring a small smile to the old man's face.

"You jackass!" Kai said with a mouthful of frosting. You would have thought he was about to burn down the place, had he not had a large smile on his face. This only made Lloyd laugh harder as he stumbled to the bathroom to grab a couple towels. Once he returned, most of the icing had been wiped off, though there were still a couple places he had missed. Lloyd threw the second towel at Kai, who nodded his thanks.

Once all that had died down, Jay asked again. "So...everyone down for that?" He tried to shrug his shoulders to make him seem nonchalant, but it only looked as though he had a chill run up his spine. This is what Zane's processor had contributed the movement to, and suddenly walked out of the room to grab a blanket, only to return and drape it over Jay's shoulders. Cole was laughing evilly as he grabbed the bowl of cake batter and hid under the table, using a spoon to practically shove the whole bowl into his mouth.

"Where is my cake batter?" Zane asked. He discreetly turned on his funny switch where only Jay could see, who was still confused about why he now had a blanket. Jay smirked. "I wasn't done putting all of the ingredients in it yet. If someone were to eat it, it could make them very sick or worse..."

Cole peeked his head out from under the table at Zane, gulping. There were brown smudges all around his mouth. "Or worse?" He asked, his voice a couple octaves above normal.

Zane nodded, thankfully able to keep a straight face on the outside. "You could also turn into a ghost again, but I'm sure you wouldn't be the one who took my cake batter, right?" Zane smiled at Cole innocently.

Cole shined a forced (and noticeably fake) smile back at his brother, before sliding the cake batter onto the table from the other side. "Oh wow! Lookee there! I found it!" Cole chuckled nervously and was obviously sweating, only making it harder for Jay and Kai not to laugh. Lloyd was back to playing on his phone.

Zane was about to break the silence when all of a sudden...

"ZANEIMSOSORRYIATEYOURCAKEBATTERPLEASEDONTLETMETURNBACKINTOAGHOSTPLEASEILLDOANYTHINGIMSORRYZANEJUSTPLEASEHELPME!" Cole screamed at Zane, crawling over and wrapping himself around Zane's leg like a small child. He was trembling quite hard and even a few tears threatened to fall.

Jay was laughing his ass off, though. He thought this was the best prank they'd pulled to date. Kai was smirking and taking a video on his phone, and Lloyd was still entranced by whatever was on his phone. Zane rolled his eyes. "Guys, your consideration is overwhelming." He stated, then lent down to run a hand through Cole's hair (a move he had seen in movies that, if done correctly, is a sign of comfort). "I was only joking, Cole. It's only cake batter. It can't do anything more than give you a stomach ache."

"Oh...Right..." Cole slowly untangled himself from Zane's leg. "I knew that."

"Okay!" Jay yelled, clapping his hands to gain everyone's attention as a bashful Cole stood up. "So? We gonna race or what?"

"I'm in!"

"Ditto!"

"Me three!"

"Sure, babe."

"Whatever."

* * *

As the six ninja lined up at the 'starting line' (which doubled as a crack in the bounty's floor on a normal day), they each were planning their routes to the other end-Jay's parents' junk yard. Of course, when they were done, they would double back and say hello.

"Everyone ready?" Jay asked, holding on hand on his hips cockily, the other around Nya's waist (must to Kai's displeasure).

"Ready as ever, babe." Nya smirked as Jay became flustered and red at her comment.

Kai simply lit his hand on fire, pointing a finger at Nya. "Stop it."

Nya looked at her brother and stuck her tongue out. "No."

Kai rolled his eyes and let his fire blow away with the wind. He needed to focus on this. The winner wouldn't have to do chores for a month, and he was determined to get out of those ungodly dishes.

"Aright." Jay said, holding a remote in his hands with only one large red button on the front. "Just to be sure there aren't any cheaters, this robot will count down from 5. It will also begin recording when the person closest to the finish line passes that mountain over there, to make the judging of who won easier if it's a close call."

A sigh resonated from the far end of the line, signaling that Lloyd was bored again.

"Can we get started already? I don't wanna wait any longer to beat you guys." He yawned on the deck, ready to summon his dragon on Jay's count.

"You can keep dreaming, Green Bean." Kai reached out to tap Lloyd on the head a couple times, who quickly leaned away and slapped at the hothead's hand.

Normally, the other ninja would comment on the swears Lloyd was saying under his breath, but today they knew he was only speaking what everyone was thinking.

"Ready, guys?" Jay asked, positioning his hands to summon his dragon after flipping the switch on the _other_ robot that specifically counted down from five.

"Born ready!" Cole smirked at Jay, who rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Five...

Nya stood behind Jay, ready to hop onto his dragon when he summoned it. Lloyd looked bored again, while Kai and Cole looked angry. Whereas Zane had begun to calculate the many difference routes from the ship to the junkyard, and which one would be the fastest.

Four...

Everyone's brows furrowed in concentration. Even Zane's.

Three...

A slight breeze seemed to snap Jay from concentration, making him look to his right, the opposite direction of the robot.

Two...

Jay could have sworn he saw some flying dots on the horizon. He opened his mouth to speak.

One...

Nya grabbed his arm, grabbing his attention back to the race. Jay quickly steadied himself again, pulling his nunchucks off his back as his friends readied to jump off the deck to form their dragons.

NINJA GO!

Kai, Lloyd, Cole, and Zane took off, jumping off the side of the ship like it was a diving board to a swimming pool only 12 feet deep. When in reality, it was more like a 12,000 foot deep swimming pool, and there was no water to break their fall.

Nya looked at Jay quizzically. "What're you doing Jay?"

Jay smirked back at her with a scheming look in his eye. "Do you really think I'm gonna let them win? Trust me, I've got a plan."

Holding the nunchucks out in front of him, he pulled Nya up beside him, and began to run towards the edge of the ship. Once their feet left the deck of the Bounty, a bright blue jet appeared around them, swooping down low towards the ground. Nya gasped in the seat behind him, covering her eyes. Jay pulled up heavily on the joystick, leveling them out almost instantly.

"Great! Nya, you can look now." Jay said, his smiling showing in his voice. Nya peeked out from behind her hands, blushing.

"I-I wasn't scared, you know. I never get scared. I knew you could do it the whole time, babe." Nya smiled, her hands shaking a little as she gripped her seat until her knuckles turned white.

"I'm sure, love." Jay said, his mind almost absent as he dodged jagged rocks and sand dunes that were beginning to get larger as they approached a very dense part of the desert. "Now that we're close to the ground, the gravitational pull shouldn't be as strong, and we should be able to go faster than the others. Since, you know, their dragons take up their energy and all that." Jay started to calculate statistics in his head, but keep a strong eye on the 'road' ahead.

Nya looked up. "There are the others!" She pointed as they approached. "It looked like we're going to pass them by a landslide!"

Jay smiled the biggest smile he could muster, and looked up as well. They were indeed about to pass the others.

Unfortunately for Jay and Nya, though, this meant Jay had stopped watching where he was going.

"Look out!" Nya screamed, pointing past Jay's shoulder at an oncoming rock arch, which looked very painful to crash into.

Jay ducked the jet down to go through the opening of the arch, worry filling his features. He hadn't completely missed the rock. No; it tore off an engine, along with a major bit of the jet's tail, which was bad. They were going to crash, and he knew it. But, he also knew a way he could help her get out unscathed. "Nya, I'm going to eject you. Call out for Kai and he'll come and grab you. We're passing them now."

Nya began to hyperventilate. "Um, how about no?!" She screamed, the arch rapidly approaching. Jay managed to duck through the first one, but he only had a split second to press the eject button.

"I love you, Nya. I'll see you back at the bounty. Don't worry, Kai won't let you fall."

Jay pressed the eject button on the seat, sending the hatch flying open, Nya flying out of the top, screaming her lungs out.

"JAY!" She screamed, then turned her attention to the skies. "KAI!"

"NYA!" Kai screamed, immediately recognizing the distressed voice and diving after her. He caught her within a matter of seconds, and quickly unbuckled her from the detached seat. "Are you okay?"

"Um, where's Jay?!" Cole yelled over the wind as he flew up beside Kai and Nya.

As if to answer his question, a giant crashing sound erupted in the air around them, making them cringe. A giant mushroom explosion erupted from the maze of rock arches and towers displayed before them, a string of blue lightning shooting up into the sky for a second, then disappearing.


	2. Chapter 2

Pain. That was all he could feel.

First, it was dull. Like something pushing against his thigh. Then, it slowly got more intense, pushing harder and becoming sharper at the same time. As his consciousness came back, the pain clouded his judgment. His eyes seemed to be held by crates of steel, because even though he was trying to urge them open, they wouldn't budge. He tried to move his arms, nothing. His legs, searing pain in his right thigh, but nothing in his left. He began to feel hot, and noticed a strange, wet feeling covering his right foot. His heart raced.

Then, he managed the strength to force his eyes open.

Fire. Everywhere. His jet lay in shambles not even fifty feet away, flames reaching at least ten feet in the air. Why had he decided to fill the gas tank completely full before they left? That's when his foot caught his attention. Not only was the jet in flames, but its gas was everywhere within a twenty foot radius it seemed.

And that included his foot. He mentally cursed, hoping that he wouldn't die that day due to the same element one of his best friends wielded. That probably wouldn't bode that well with the team, and he already knew Kai would blame himself for not controlling his element or some ridiculous reason like that. Jay's strength seeped from him and into the ground, his head dropped back against the rock, causing a sharp pain to resonate throughout his skull.

"Help.." Jay struggled weakly, looking to the skies for any signs of his team. He could hear the sounds of metal crunching and falling, colliding with hard ground. He could feel the vibrations through his tattered clothing that stuck to his sweaty and bruised skin. "Cole? Please help me..."

"Jay!"

He could hear Cole's voice, though it sounded far away. He wasn't sure if that was because his consciousness was already fading again, or if Cole really was that far away. "Cole..."

He closed his eyes, hoping he'd be able to open them again, but found that he couldn't. He sighed to himself, trying to keep himself awake until the others got there. He smiled to himself, though. If he hadn't filled the tank completely before they left, the flames wouldn't be nearly as tall as they were now. Thus, he deduced, would make it a lot harder for the others to find his crash site.

At least they'll know where to find your body.

Jay's smile disappeared. He began to hyperventilate, which caused his eyes to shoot open. He gasped for breath, the thought of his friends having to bury him eating him alive.

Because he was too focused on the pain shooting down his right leg and through his hip, along with the thoughts besieging his mind, he was unaware of the footsteps approaching until they were no more than two feet from his face. He looked up, but could not recognize the person's face, for it was hidden behind a large, black hood.

As much as he wanted to do anything else other than ask this stranger for help, it wasn't like he had much else to choose from.

"Hey," Jay tried to lift his right hand to get the person's attention. "C-can you please call...my friends...?"

The stranger didn't move.

"Th-they should be around here somewhere looking for me. I'm hurt p-pretty badly. M-mind helping out a b-brother?" Jay tried to force a smile, which only came out like a grimace.

The stranger suddenly dropped to his knees beside Jay, pulling out a satchel from underneath his long cloak. Pulling out a small syringe, he pointed to Jay's injured leg. "This should help with the pain," was all he said. Before Jay could protest or ask what it was, another sharp pain replaced the one before it, but it only lasted about three seconds.

Jay used all he had to scream his lungs out, before passing out in the stranger's arms.

"COOOOLEE!"

* * *

"Jay!" Cole screamed his lungs out in one breath, having to swallow back tears as he watched flames rise into the air. He flew towards them at record-breaking speed, Lloyd, Zane, Kai, and Nya not far behind. Cole's heart was racing, and it seemed to take years for the seconds to tick by as he hit the earth so hard and fast the ground shook. Thankfully everyone landed after him, or else they would have fallen over from the earthquake he made.

Cole looked around, his face frantic. His first wary glace was towards the crushed cockpit of the jet. With all that fire, he was sure there was going to be a body. And not just some random corpse, either. The corpse of his best friend. He forced himself to look back to his friends.

With a nod of silent agreement, they all fanned out, looking for any sign of their fallen friend. Cole immediately checked the burning cockpit best he could, relieved he couldn't find his friends burnt body inside. But, as his friends looked back to him one by one when they couldn't find Jay in their direction, his relief turned into worry and panic.

"Where the hell is Jay?" Kai shouted over the sounds of Nya putting out the fire. Lloyd didn't comment on Kai's outburst, because if it were him, he knew, his language wouldn't be that nice.

"I have scanned multiple times, but the closet heat signatures other than our own are miles away-two life forms in Jay's parents' junkyard, whom I would assume to be Jay's parents." Zane informed.

"Well," Lloyd said quietly. Nya finally finished putting out the fire, making everything almost too quiet all of a sudden. "You guys know what we need to do."

They all nodded. Cole spoke up. "No."

Lloyd and rest of the group looked puzzled.

"I mean, not all of us have to go. I can go inform Jay's parents while you guys continue to look. Spread out further than what we have. I'll be back in no time to help."

"Alright." Lloyd nodded his approval, and Cole was on his way without another word.

* * *

Already speeding above the rock towers, Cole's thoughts whizzed past him like the wind. Where was Jay, if he wasn't at the crash site? The crash looked pretty bad, and if Jay had been injured, he couldn't have gotten far. But what if he was? What if he had been lying there, helpless? What if someone kidnapped him? Cole's face blanched as he began to imagine the different people who would want to kidnap Jay. And all the different things they would do to him.

Before he knew it, he was at the entrance to Jay's parents' junkyard. He quickly dropped to the ground, taking a moment to debate on what he was going to tell them. What do you tell two parents that their baby's possibly been injured, taken, or even killed, but you can't give them a definite answer because you can't _find_ them?

Cole began his trek into the junkyard, noticing that the entire place was eerily quiet. He wondered if Zane's heat scanner was malfunctioning again, and almost made a mental note to remind Jay on the way back that he needed to take a look. A sharp pain in his chest brought his mind back to the present-where Jay likely wouldn't be coming home with them.

Reaching the door of the trailer, he raised his hand to knock. Listening accutely for any sounds coming from inside, he knocked hard on the door three times. Each time he left a small dent in the door which he internally promised to fix at a later date.

When he heard nothing on the other side of the door, he knocked again. Yet, still nothing.

"Mr. and Mrs. Walker?" Cole called, walking to the windows on either side of the door to peer inside. He bit his cheek in concern when he couldn't see in. Jay had told him many times how it annoyed him when his mother refused to ever have the curtains shut in her 'house'. Cole reached for his weapon on his back, but suddenly realized he had stupidly left it back on the bounty. He looked back towards the rock stacks, and the thin line of smoke coming from the middle of them. Cole could go back to the others, let them know that Zane's radar is malfunctioning and that it needed fixed, and be completely safe. Or he could pick the lock to the door of the trailer, trust that Zane's radar was right, and see who the two figures inside were.

Cole chose option number 2.

So as to try and not alarm whomever was inside the trailer, he cautiously tried the door handle, on the off chance that the people had forgotten to lock it. Not to his surprise, they had remembered to lock the door. So, thankfully Nya had lent him one of her bobby pins on a day of training that had been too much for Cole to bear with his hair down in his face. He grabbed a staff from one of the smaller piles next to the door, and readied himself. He stuck the pin in the lock and subconsciously stuck out his tongue to concentrate. Once Cole heard the clicking sound indicating it was open, he swung the door open and reached for the light switch right where he knew it was (beside the door, like any other light switch).

"JAY!" Cole screeched, but couldn't take more than two steps before something hit him hard in the side of the head, knocking him over. Before he could get up, a sweet smell surrounded him, and he didn't last three seconds before he was out like a light.

The last thing he had seen was Jay, bloodied and bruised, tied up in a chair across from the door with a gag in his mouth, tears running down his cheeks. Then, darkness.


End file.
